The present invention relates to a microfilm reader-printer which can carry out projection of a microfilm image on a screen and image formation on a carrier of formed image.
In a microfilm reader-printer of the above kind, the operator has to determine between which ones, among a plurality of peripheral apparatus that are connected to the body of the reader-printer, the transfer control of various kinds of signal is to be executed, and to start predetermined transfer of control by operating a selection switch, for example, of a selected object.
Further, there are some apparatus which adopt a configuration that makes the manual setting possible for specifying the priority order of a plurality of peripheral devices that are connected to the body of the reader-printer. In the case of such a configuration, the operator has to determine how to get the priority order, and has to manually operate according to the judgment selected.
Consequently, in the case of using the prior-art apparatus, there were sometimes caused miscontrol due to misjudgment or carelessness.
On the other hand, among microfilm readerprinter of this kind, there is proposed one whose body is constructed to be connectable to peripheral devices such as a page searcher. The page searcher may be set at a predetermined position of the reader-printer in such a way as to permit a continuous feeding or rewinding of a roll like recording medium, namely, microfilm, one image frame at a time. Projection on the screen and image formation operation on the image formation carrier, of a microfilm image is arranged to be achieved easily from the page searcher. In such a page searcher, setting of the number of pages to be printed continuously is also arranged to be achievable directly from the page searcher. However, in the prior-art page searcher, an image formation request signal which specifies the number of pages to be printed continuously is sent to the body of the reader-printer as a signal of predetermined bit number. The image formation request signal from the page searcher requires signal lines for 4 bits for a page searcher which may be set to 9 pages of printing, and signal lines for 7 bits for a page searcher which may be set to 99 pages. Accordingly, it becomes necessary 1o provide an interface circuit for that purposes respectively for the page searcher and the reader-printer. On the other hand, if image formation execution is to be carried out by sheet, there was a problem that there is needed a very long time for the operation of a plurality of continuous image formations.
In addition, the number of continuously printable pages by the prior-art microfilm reader-printer does not necessarily coincide with the corresponding number that is required by the page searcher that is connected. For instance, when a page searcher which can request execution of 99 prints is connected to the body of a reader-printer that can designate continuous printings of up to 9 pages, and the page searcher requested a continuous printing of more than 9 pages, the reader-printer body is arranged to carry out a continuous printings of more than 9 pages. Because of this, there was a problem that the temperature is raised beyond a rated value or the amount of the toner becomes insufficient, in the body of the reader-printer.